Strs Ohio Boosts Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

Strs Ohio grew its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 204,318 shares of the payment services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,229 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in American Express were worth $65,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth about $35,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Express in the first quarter worth about $37,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in American Express during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Solstein Capital LLC bought a new position in American Express in the second quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AXP. Barclays increased their target price on American Express from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, October 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $332.65.

American Express Stock Performance

American Express stock opened at $357.99 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $333.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $308.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.61. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $362.84. The company has a market capitalization of $246.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.29.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The payment services company reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $18.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. American Express had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. American Express has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.200-15.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.01%.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Douglas Tabish sold 2,515 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.61, for a total transaction of $894,359.15. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $894,359.15. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Denise Pickett sold 5,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.73, for a total transaction of $1,753,650.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,739.98. The trade was a 39.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 222,011 shares of company stock valued at $70,725,044 over the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Profile

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.